File this one under “advice not to follow if you think you’re pregnant.”
A growing number of YouTube tutorials that teach women how to use toothpaste — and their urine — as a sort of DIY pregnancy test are popping up. But, think twice if you’re about to try it out for yourself.
How the toothpaste pregnancy test works
The steps to using toothpaste as a pregnancy test are exactly what you think: Take two glasses, fill one with urine and add some toothpaste to the other (white toothpaste is the best option — you’ll learn why in a second).
Then, slowly add a few drops of urine to the toothpaste and stir. A “blueish, foamy” consistency means a positive test. If nothing happens, add a few more drops and stir. Still no changes? You’re not pregnant.
It works best if you do it in the morning, according to one YouTube video, but don’t put too much stock in the results.
“The fizz in the toothpaste is caused by the acid in the urine reacting with the calcium carbonate in the toothpaste to give off carbon dioxide,” Stuart Gale, owner and chief pharmacist at Oxford Online Pharmacy, told The Huffington Post UK. “The more acidic the urine is, the greater the fizz. Whether or not a person is or isn’t pregnant wouldn’t make any difference.”
Other DIY pregnancy test videos, including tutorials using bleach and vinegar, aren’t going to give reliable results, either.
Better options for pregnancy tests
The whole thing sounds bizarre — and unnecessary, given that you can get pregnancy tests for as little as a dollar. They’re the most best at-home way to check your pregnancy status with typically a 99 percent accuracy if you use them according to the instructions, according to Gale. However, it’s ultimately your doctor that can say whether or not you’re pregnant.
“Even if the ‘toothpaste test’ does appear to be ‘positive’ I would strongly recommend that any possible mum-to-be gets official confirmation of the fact that they are indeed pregnant with a proper pregnancy test,” Gale said.
Honestly, that goes for any YouTube health or medical tutorial: Watch it for fun, but don’t bank on it being true — at all.
